Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Sells 125,048 Shares of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP reduced its stake in The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,596,963 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 125,048 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Western Union were worth $56,171,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in Western Union by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 80,813 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $979,000 after buying an additional 896 shares during the period. Dakota Wealth Management raised its stake in Western Union by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 56,066 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $685,000 after buying an additional 979 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its stake in Western Union by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 27,050 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $331,000 after buying an additional 1,091 shares during the period. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Western Union by 59.9% during the 1st quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,292 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 1,233 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its stake in Western Union by 14.2% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 11,751 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $164,000 after buying an additional 1,465 shares during the period. 91.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Western Union from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $13.00 price target on shares of Western Union in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. StockNews.com raised Western Union from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Western Union from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Union currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.14.

Western Union Trading Down 0.2 %

Western Union stock opened at $12.16 on Friday. The Western Union Company has a 52 week low of $10.92 and a 52 week high of $14.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.98, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.20, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.86. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $11.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $12.64.

Western Union (NYSE:WU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($0.01). Western Union had a return on equity of 123.71% and a net margin of 13.64%. The business had revenue of $1.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.06 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.51 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that The Western Union Company will post 1.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Union Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.235 per share. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Western Union’s payout ratio is currently 55.62%.

Western Union Company Profile

The Western Union Company provides money movement and payment services worldwide. The company operates through Consumer Money Transfer and Consumer Services segments. The Consumer Money Transfer segment facilitates money transfers for international cross-border and intra-country transfers, primarily through a network of retail agent locations, as well as through websites and mobile devices.